First, I will apologize as this post is going to be all over the place as you can tell by the title. It will end with a little piece of RV advice, but sometimes life is too exciting not to share!!

My father-in-law Jack turns 94 today. Bob, Ruth (Bob’s mom) Taylee (my daughter) and I, went to Rapid City to celebrate with Bob’s daughter, Halie, son-in-law, Matt, grandson, Kieran, and new granddaughter, Delainey (pics to follow). Jack is a World War 2 veteran that was a staff sergeant in the Army Air Corp, a gunner and a radio operator on a B-25 in North Africa. He was shot at numerous times and lost one of his eyes as a result. Jack is one of the best humans I know on earth and I am so grateful for each visit with him. Happy Birthday Jack!!! Thank you for teaching your son how to be equally great.

OK, on to more mushy stuff…

Welcome to the world baby Delainey Lou Anderson. I could go on and on about how wonderful she is but I’m sure you will be able to see that for yourself. This is Bob’s second grandchild and we love her to pieces. Her brother Kieran isn’t convinced yet that his world hasn’t fallen apart, but he loves her too and was excited to transform into a super hero at the end of our visit.

Baby Lainey has to have surgery in a week or so. Pray that everything goes perfectly!!

Sorry for the terrible picture but…

My sister, Shana, and brother-in-law, Doug and kids also came to Lead for the weekend. They were staying at Guilded Mountain at a friend’s cabin. The cabin is beautiful and rentable for winter or summer fun! The owners are fantastic and this is the perfect getaway for a large group or family getaway.

We met them for some Gator exploring and found a cemetery that I didn’t know existed which came from the town of Terry (you can see the red run on Terry Peak from the cemetery and read about this wonderful town in it’s glory days by clicking on the link). I also got to kiss my nieces and nephews during my short visit which is my favorite thing to do.

On a totally different subject…yesterday, the Black Hills Nordic Ski Club had a trail clean up day. Prior to a couple of years ago, I never wondered how the great bike trials and cross country ski trails were created or maintained-I was just happy they existed. That was until I helped build some new bike trails in Sturgis and found out just how hard it is to bring recreational activities to the Black Hills, both physically and logistically. Yesterday, I got to experience the same thing with the cross country trails at Big Hill.

Do you see that log crossing the trail? It was big and heavy and removed by Bob. He has been cleaning trails for years, along with a hand full of other ski enthusiasts. It was a beautiful day and although we are not finished, we made a dent. If you don’t know how wonderful Big Hill is-go check it out. It is great for hiking/biking in the summer and cross-country skiing/snowshoeing/fat biking in the winter. *Please note: Dogs are discouraged during ski season as they disrupt the grooming process on the ski trails. If you have a beloved pet, they may be happy to shoe show with you on those trails and there are plenty of unmarked hiking places in the area.

To get there- drive up Tinton Road until you come to a big parking lot on the right. Park in it and cross the gravel road to the trailhead sign. The top of Big Hill has a shack for warming up- BONUS. If you are a beginner, go with someone who knows where they are going as there are several miles of trails. Here is a map but please don’t go skiing alone if you are a novice skier. The trails are long and far from the parking lot with limited cell phone service. If you are a beginner or want to try skiing, message me and I will go with you. Also, consider joining the ski club. Your dues help pay to maintain these trails as all work on them, including grooming, is volunteer.

OK, finally, what this blog is really about-RV’s. As the South Dakota winter is creeping up on us, we decided to winterize Goldie last week. You may ask if this is a do it yourself project and yes, it certainly can be. In fact, one of the previous owners of Goldie left us this nifty list-

Here’s the thing though- as you can see on step 7, pour RV Antifreeze in all P-traps, winterizing requires you to handle antifreeze and know what a P trap is. Now, this girl is not touching anything resembling antifreeze as it is POISON. A quick google search offers 317,000 results on the words antifreeze and poison. It only takes a few teaspoons to kill animals, so in my opinion, this job is best left to the professionals. What if I accidentally confused my cup of coffee with my cup of antifreeze? Disaster waiting to happen.

Now, on to the P-trap. For your reading enjoyment, I have linked what a P-trap is here. If you take the liberty to actually look at that page, one word should stand out to you- sewage. So to summarize the glamorous winterizing requirements…poison and sewage, no thank-you!!

Fortunately, professionals are not hard to find and for around $95 dollars they will do this for you. This is where we went-

Dakota RV is our one stop shop for all Goldie’s needs. They are located conveniently right outside of Rapid City and will handle all your poison and sewage needs! The friendly staff also recommended that we run our generator one hour each month of the winter, which will also keep the batteries charged (apparently batteries won’t freeze if they are charged). We do store Goldie in an enclosed storage unit during the winter but that will not keep her from freezing in South Dakota. Also, my mom told me to put dryer sheets in the RV to keep mice away so Goldie is covered in them. That’s all the RV advice I have for now, I will let you know if these tips worked or not in the spring time.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my scattered thoughts and take another second to hug your family because they are probably pretty great too!!

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Published by classcrvthereyet

Hi! I'm Sara and I love all things travel. When I go to a new place, I do endless research to find the best places to eat/sleep/drink coffee/play. I am hoping to provide all of this for you in one place as well as tips on the RV life.
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